After cutting 10 sports programs due to a budget deficit, the district garnered enough donations to keep them going.

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Skyline High School students learn sports psychology as well as the game of golf at Lake Chabot Golf Course as part of the ACE Program for Kids. Oakland Unified School District has began budget reductions by cutting funds for 10 after-school sports programs, leaving about 500 students enrolled in such sports as wrestling, swimming, bowling, tennis and golf without programs in which to play their respective sports. (Photo by Don Feria for the Bay Area News Group)

OAKLAND — Oakland Unified managed to keep all of its sports programs running this year despite having to cut funding for about half of them amid a multimillion-dollar budget crisis.

Since news broke in August 2017 that the district was cutting 10 after-school sports programs –affecting about 500 students — donations started pouring in. As of February, the district had garnered around $400,000 in donations — including a $250,000 donation from the Oakland Raiders.

The donations covered the costs to operate the fall sports that were cut — girls golf and girls tennis — as well as wrestling in the winter. On Monday, Oakland Unified officials announced the district had enough funds to cover the spring sports that were threatened — boys tennis, golf, swimming and volleyball and girls swimming and badminton.

Whether those sports will continue next school year remains unknown. Cutting those sports programs was the result of a $500,000 reduction to the district’s $1.6 million budget for sports programs for the 2017-18 school year. The school board is working on its budget for next year, and is looking at making up to $30 million in cuts — likely resulting in layoffs for some administrative employees. Oakland Unified spokesman John Sasaki said current budget proposals on the table don’t call for any further cuts to the sports programs, but also don’t include putting any more money into them.

“We’re still needing some help for the longterm sustainability for all these sports,” Sasaki said in an interview. “Sports are an incredibly important part of our students’ lives; they give them so many valuable tools when it comes to teamwork, leadership and dedication. We want to make sure we have sports in perpetuity.”